GIT-WORKTREE(1)

📦
version 2.56.0 · 25 versions
, in arch rolling

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay so, git-worktree(1) bestie: Manage multiple working trees. That’s the whole assignment. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

git worktree add [-f] [--detach] [--checkout] [--lock [--reason <string>]]
                 [--orphan] [(-b | -B) <new-branch>] <path> [<commit-ish>]
git worktree list [-v | --porcelain [-z]]
git worktree lock [--reason <string>] <worktree>
git worktree move <worktree> <new-path>
git worktree prune [-n] [-v] [--expire <expire>]
git worktree remove [-f] <worktree>
git worktree repair [<path>...]
git worktree unlock <worktree>

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Okay so picture this: you’ve got one repo, but you want multiple working trees attached to the same repository. Iconic, right? A git repository can support multiple working trees, which lets you check out more than one branch at a time. With git worktree add, a new working tree is associated with the repository, along with additional metadata that differentiates that working tree from others in the same repository. The working tree, along with this metadata, is called a "worktree". 🎀

This new worktree is called a "linked worktree" as opposed to the "main worktree" prepared by git-init(1) or git-clone(1). A repository has one main worktree (if it’s not a bare repository) and zero or more linked worktrees. When you’re done with a linked worktree, remove it with git worktree remove. ✨

In its simplest form, git worktree add <path> automatically creates a new branch whose name is the final component of <path>, which is convenient if you plan to work on a new topic. For instance, git worktree add ../hotfix creates new branch hotfix and checks it out at path ../hotfix. To instead work on an existing branch in a new worktree, use git worktree add <path> <branch>. On the other hand, if you just plan to make some experimental changes or do testing without disturbing existing development, it is often convenient to create a throwaway worktree not associated with any branch. For instance, git worktree add -d <path> creates a new worktree with a detached HEAD at the same commit as the current branch. 🦋

If a working tree is deleted without using git worktree remove, then its associated administrative files, which reside in the repository (see "DETAILS" below), will eventually be removed automatically (see gc.worktreePruneExpire in git-config(1)), or you can run git worktree prune in the main or any linked worktree to clean up any stale administrative files. 🧹

If the working tree for a linked worktree is stored on a portable device or network share which is not always mounted, you can prevent its administrative files from being pruned by issuing the git worktree lock command, optionally specifying --reason to explain why the worktree is locked. 🔒

🛠️ COMMANDS 🛠️

add <path> [<commit-ish>]

Create a worktree at <path> and checkout <commit-ish> into it. The new worktree is linked to the current repository, sharing everything except per-worktree files such as HEAD, index, etc. As a convenience, <commit-ish> may be a bare -, which is synonymous with @{-1}. 💅

  • If <commit-ish> is a branch name (call it <branch>) and is not found, and neither -b nor -B nor --detach are used, but there does exist a tracking branch in exactly one remote (call it <remote>) with a matching name, treat as equivalent to:
$ git worktree add --track -b <branch> <path> <remote>/<branch>
  • If the branch exists in multiple remotes and one of them is named by the checkout.defaultRemote configuration variable, we’ll use that one for the purposes of disambiguation, even if the <branch> isn’t unique across all remotes. Set it to e.g. checkout.defaultRemote=origin to always checkout remote branches from there if <branch> is ambiguous but exists on the origin remote. See also checkout.defaultRemote in git-config(1). 🌈
  • If <commit-ish> is omitted and neither -b nor -B nor --detach is used, then, as a convenience, the new worktree is associated with a branch (call it <branch>) named after $(basename <path>). If <branch> doesn’t exist, a new branch based on HEAD is automatically created as if -b <branch> was given. If <branch> does exist, it will be checked out in the new worktree, if it’s not checked out anywhere else, otherwise the command will refuse to create the worktree (unless --force is used). 😭
  • If <commit-ish> is omitted, neither --detach nor --orphan is used, and there are no valid local branches (or remote branches if --guess-remote is specified) then, as a convenience, the new worktree is associated with a new unborn branch named <branch> (after $(basename <path>) if neither -b nor -B is used) as if --orphan was passed to the command. In the event the repository has a remote and --guess-remote is used, but no remote or local branches exist, then the command fails with a warning reminding the user to fetch from their remote first (or override by using -f/--force). 💀

list

List details of each worktree. The main worktree is listed first, followed by each of the linked worktrees. The output details include whether the worktree is bare, the revision currently checked out, the branch currently checked out (or "detached HEAD" if none), "locked" if the worktree is locked, "prunable" if the worktree can be pruned by the prune command. 👑

lock

If a worktree is on a portable device or network share which is not always mounted, lock it to prevent its administrative files from being pruned automatically. This also prevents it from being moved or deleted. Optionally, specify a reason for the lock with --reason. 🔒

move

Move a worktree to a new location. Note that the main worktree or linked worktrees containing submodules cannot be moved with this command. (The git worktree repair command, however, can reestablish the connection with linked worktrees if you move the main worktree manually.) 🚚

prune

Remove worktree information in $GIT_DIR/worktrees for worktrees whose working trees are missing. Useful after manually removing a working tree that is no longer needed (but use git worktree remove next time you want to do so). Also, if you moved a working tree elsewhere causing the worktree information to become dangling, see git worktree repair to reconnect the worktree to the new working tree location. 🧹

remove

Remove a worktree. Only clean worktrees (no untracked files and no modification in tracked files) can be removed. Unclean worktrees or ones with submodules can be removed with --force. The main worktree cannot be removed. 🙅‍♀️

repair [<path>...]

Repair worktree administrative files, if possible, if they have become corrupted or outdated due to external factors. 🩹

For instance, if the main worktree (or bare repository) is moved, linked worktrees will be unable to locate it. Running repair in the main worktree will reestablish the connection from linked worktrees back to the main worktree.

Similarly, if the working tree for a linked worktree is moved without using git worktree move, the main worktree (or bare repository) will be unable to locate it. Running repair within the recently-moved worktree will reestablish the connection. If multiple linked worktrees are moved, running repair from any worktree with each tree’s new <path> as an argument, will reestablish the connection to all the specified paths.

If both the main worktree and linked worktrees have been moved or copied manually, then running repair in the main worktree and specifying the new <path> of each linked worktree will reestablish all connections in both directions. 🔗

unlock

Unlock a worktree, allowing it to be pruned, moved or deleted. 🔓

#

✨ OPTIONS ✨

okay bestie, buckle up, this is the option buffet and it's long 💅 but every single one is here, promise 🫶

  • -f, --force — the "yes I know what I'm doing" button 🔥 by default, add refuses to create a new worktree when <commit-ish> is a branch name and that branch is already checked out by another worktree, or if <path> is already assigned to some worktree but is missing (for instance if <path> was deleted manually, oops 🙈). This option overrides these safeguards. and heads up: to add a missing but locked worktree path, you have to specify --force twice.

move refuses to move a locked worktree unless --force is specified twice. If the destination is already assigned to some other worktree but is missing (for instance if <new-path> was deleted manually), then --force allows the move to proceed; use --force twice if the destination is locked.

remove refuses to remove an unclean worktree unless --force is used. To remove a locked worktree, specify --force twice. two forces. double the force, double the... yeah 😭

  • -b <new-branch>, -B <new-branch> — with add, create a new branch named <new-branch> starting at <commit-ish>, and check out <new-branch> into the new worktree. If <commit-ish> is omitted, it defaults to HEAD. By default, -b refuses to create a new branch if it already exists. -B overrides this safeguard, resetting <new-branch> to *<commit-ish> 🎀
  • -d, --detach — with add, detach HEAD in the new worktree. see "DETACHED HEAD" in git-checkout(1) 🦋
  • --checkout, --no-checkout — by default, add checks out <commit-ish>, however, --no-checkout can be used to suppress checkout in order to make customizations, such as configuring sparse-checkout. see "Sparse checkout" in git-read-tree(1) ✨
  • --guess-remote, --no-guess-remote — with worktree add <path>, without <commit-ish>, instead of creating a new branch from HEAD, if there exists a tracking branch in exactly one remote matching the basename of <path>, base the new branch on the remote-tracking branch, and mark the remote-tracking branch as "upstream" from the new branch. If there are multiple matches, the command fails 💀 if there is no match, the command falls back to creating a new branch from HEAD.

this can also be set up as the default behaviour by using the worktree.guessRemote config option 👑

  • --relative-paths, --no-relative-paths — link worktrees using relative paths or absolute paths (default). overrides the worktree.useRelativePaths config option, see git-config(1).

with repair, the linking files will be updated if there's an absolute/relative mismatch, even if the links are correct 🌸

  • --track, --no-track — when creating a new branch, if <commit-ish> is a branch, mark it as "upstream" from the new branch. this is the default if <commit-ish> is a remote-tracking branch. see --track in git-branch(1) for details 💜
  • --lock — keep the worktree locked after creation. this is the equivalent of git worktree lock after git worktree add, but without a race condition 🔒
  • -n, --dry-run — with prune, do not remove anything; just report what it would remove 👀
  • --orphan — with add, make the new worktree and index empty, associating the worktree with a new unborn branch named <new-branch> 🧚
  • --porcelain — with list, output in an easy-to-parse format for scripts. this format will remain stable across Git versions and regardless of user configuration. it is recommended to combine this with -z. see below for details ⭐
  • -z — terminate each line with a NUL rather than a newline when --porcelain is specified with list. this makes it possible to parse the output when a worktree path contains a newline character 😤 (yes, paths can have newlines, chaos is real)
  • -q, --quiet — with add, suppress feedback messages 🤫
  • -v, --verbose — with prune, report all removals.

with list, output additional information about worktrees (see below) 📋

  • --expire <time> — with prune, only prune missing worktrees if older than <time>.

with list, annotate missing worktrees as prunable if they are older than <time> ⏳

  • --reason <string> — with lock or with add --lock, an explanation why the worktree is locked 🎀 say it with your chest
  • <worktree> — worktrees can be identified by path, either relative or absolute.

if the last path components in the worktree's path is unique among worktrees, it can be used to identify a worktree. for example if you only have two worktrees, at /abc/def/ghi and /abc/def/ggg, then ghi or def/ghi is enough to point to the former worktree. slay, lazy typing is valid 💅

🌈 REFS 🌈

okay so when you're out here living that multiple-worktrees life, some refs are shared between all worktrees, but others are specific to an individual worktree. one example is HEAD, which is different for each worktree. this section is about the sharing rules and how to access refs of one worktree from another 🦋

in general, all pseudo refs are per-worktree and all refs starting with refs/ are shared. pseudo refs are ones like HEAD which are directly under $GIT_DIR instead of inside $GIT_DIR/refs. there are exceptions, however: refs inside refs/bisect, refs/worktree and refs/rewritten are not shared 💀

refs that are per-worktree can still be accessed from another worktree via two special paths, main-worktree and worktrees. the former gives access to per-worktree refs of the main worktree, while the latter to all linked worktrees 👑

for example, main-worktree/HEAD or main-worktree/refs/bisect/good resolve to the same value as the main worktree's HEAD and refs/bisect/good respectively. similarly, worktrees/foo/HEAD or worktrees/bar/refs/bisect/bad are the same as $GIT_COMMON_DIR/worktrees/foo/HEAD and $GIT_COMMON_DIR/worktrees/bar/refs/bisect/bad ✨

to access refs, it's best not to look inside $GIT_DIR directly. instead use commands such as git-rev-parse(1) or git-update-ref(1) which will handle refs correctly. no cap, just use the tools 🙏

🎀 CONFIGURATION FILE 🎀

by default, the repository config file is shared across all worktrees. if the config variables core.bare or core.worktree are present in the common config file and extensions.worktreeConfig is disabled, then they will be applied to the main worktree only.

in order to have worktree-specific configuration, you can turn on the worktreeConfig extension, e.g.:

$ git config extensions.worktreeConfig true

in this mode, specific configuration stays in the path pointed by git rev-parse --git-path config.worktree. you can add or update configuration in this file with git config --worktree. older Git versions will refuse to access repositories with this extension 💀 (like, they literally will not go there)

note that in this file, the exception for core.bare and core.worktree is gone. if they exist in $GIT_DIR/config, you must move them to the config.worktree of the main worktree. you may also take this opportunity to review and move other configuration that you do not want to share to all worktrees 💖

  • core.worktree should never be shared.
  • core.bare should not be shared if the value is core.bare=true.
  • core.sparseCheckout should not be shared, unless you are sure you always use sparse checkout for all worktrees.

see the documentation of extensions.worktreeConfig in git-config(1) for more details 🌸

🔍 DETAILS 🔍

each linked worktree has a private sub-directory in the repository's $GIT_DIR/worktrees directory. the private sub-directory's name is usually the base name of the linked worktree's path, possibly appended with a number to make it unique 🎀 for example, when $GIT_DIR=/path/main/.git the command git worktree add /path/other/test-next next creates the linked worktree in /path/other/test-next and also creates a $GIT_DIR/worktrees/test-next directory (or $GIT_DIR/worktrees/test-next1 if test-next is already taken) ✨

within a linked worktree, $GIT_DIR is set to point to this private directory (e.g. /path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next in the example) and $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set to point back to the main worktree's $GIT_DIR (e.g. /path/main/.git). these settings are made in a .git file located at the top directory of the linked worktree 👑

path resolution via git rev-parse --git-path uses either $GIT_DIR or $GIT_COMMON_DIR depending on the path. for example, in the linked worktree git rev-parse --git-path HEAD returns /path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next/HEAD (not /path/other/test-next/.git/HEAD or /path/main/.git/HEAD) while git rev-parse --git-path refs/heads/master uses $GIT_COMMON_DIR and returns /path/main/.git/refs/heads/master, since refs are shared across all worktrees, except refs/bisect, refs/worktree and refs/rewritten 💅

see gitrepository-layout(5) for more information. the rule of thumb is: do not make any assumption about whether a path belongs to $GIT_DIR or $GIT_COMMON_DIR when you need to directly access something inside $GIT_DIR. use git rev-parse --git-path to get the final path 🙏

if you manually move a linked worktree, you need to update the gitdir file in the entry's directory. for example, if a linked worktree is moved to /newpath/test-next and its .git file points to /path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next, then update /path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next/gitdir to reference /newpath/test-next instead. better yet, run git worktree repair to reestablish the connection automatically 🫶 (the "better yet" is doing so much heavy lifting here, ngl)

to prevent a $GIT_DIR/worktrees entry from being pruned (which can be useful in some situations, such as when the entry's worktree is stored on a portable device), use the git worktree lock command, which adds a file named locked to the entry's directory. the file contains the reason in plain text 📝 for example, if a linked worktree's .git file points to /path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next then a file named /path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next/locked will prevent the test-next entry from being pruned. see gitrepository-layout(5) for details 🔒

when extensions.worktreeConfig is enabled, the config file .git/worktrees/<id>/config.worktree is read after .git/config ⭐

💅 LIST OUTPUT FORMAT 💅

ok so git worktree list has two whole formats and they are not the same vibe at all. The default one? It's giving spreadsheet-chic — everything on a single line, in columns, very tidy.

$ git worktree list
/path/to/bare-source            (bare)
/path/to/linked-worktree        abcd1234 [master]
/path/to/other-linked-worktree  1234abc  (detached HEAD)

✨ and the command also sprinkles little annotations on each worktree depending on its state. Bestie, here's the lore:

  • locked — appears if the worktree is locked.
  • prunable — appears if the worktree can be pruned via git worktree prune.

So like, this is what it looks like in the wild:

$ git worktree list
/path/to/linked-worktree    abcd1234 [master]
/path/to/locked-worktree    acbd5678 (brancha) locked
/path/to/prunable-worktree  5678abc  (detached HEAD) prunable

and here's the tea 🫖: those annotations can also come with a reason, and you only see it if you go verbose mode. When a reason exists, the annotation yeets itself down to the next line, indented, with the extra info trailing behind it:

$ git worktree list --verbose
/path/to/linked-worktree              abcd1234 [master]
/path/to/locked-worktree-no-reason    abcd5678 (detached HEAD) locked
/path/to/locked-worktree-with-reason  1234abcd (brancha)
        locked: worktree path is mounted on a portable device
/path/to/prunable-worktree            5678abc1 (detached HEAD)
        prunable: gitdir file points to non-existent location

ok so quick rule, write this down 📝: the annotation jumps to the next line only if that extra info is available. Otherwise it stays chillin' on the same line as the worktree itself. That's it, that's the rule.

🦋 Porcelain Format 🦋

Now THIS one is the icon. Porcelain format gives you one line per attribute. And if you pass -z, those lines get terminated with NUL instead of a newline — no cap, that's the whole diff.

Attributes show up as a label and a value, separated by exactly one single space. Boolean attributes (like bare and detached) are label-only, and they only show up at all when the value is true. Some attributes (like locked, bestie, we been knew) can be label-only or carry a value — it all depends on whether a reason is available.

Two things to never forget:

  • The first attribute of a worktree is always worktree.
  • An empty line means end of record. Periodt.

Example time, look at this beauty:

$ git worktree list --porcelain
worktree /path/to/bare-source
bare

worktree /path/to/linked-worktree
HEAD abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234
branch refs/heads/master

worktree /path/to/other-linked-worktree
HEAD 1234abc1234abc1234abc1234abc1234abc1234a
detached

worktree /path/to/linked-worktree-locked-no-reason
HEAD 5678abc5678abc5678abc5678abc5678abc5678c
branch refs/heads/locked-no-reason
locked

worktree /path/to/linked-worktree-locked-with-reason
HEAD 3456def3456def3456def3456def3456def3456b
branch refs/heads/locked-with-reason
locked reason why is locked

worktree /path/to/linked-worktree-prunable
HEAD 1233def1234def1234def1234def1234def1234b
detached
prunable gitdir file points to non-existent location

Now, unless you're using -z, any "unusual" characters in the lock reason — newlines and friends — get escaped, and the entire reason gets quoted. This is exactly as explained for the config variable core.quotePath (peep git-config(1) if you wanna go deeper). Like so:

$ git worktree list --porcelain
...
locked "reason\nwhy is locked"
...

see that \n? that's the escaping doing its thing 💅

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

okay so picture this, it's a whole scenario: you're deep in a refactoring session, vibing, and then your boss materializes out of nowhere demanding an immediate fix. Rude. 😭

Normally you'd just reach for git-stash(1) to tuck your changes away temporarily — but your working tree is in such a state of absolute disarray (new files, moved files, removed files, and other bits and pieces strewn around everywhere) that you do not wanna risk disturbing any of it. So instead? You spin up a temporary linked worktree, make the emergency fix there, delete it when you're done, and then resume your earlier refactoring session like nothing happened. main character energy fr fr 👑

$ git worktree add -b emergency-fix ../temp master
$ pushd ../temp
# ... hack hack hack ...
$ git commit -a -m 'emergency fix for boss'
$ popd
$ git worktree remove ../temp

ate. no notes. 🍓

🧚 CONFIGURATION 🧚

heads up bestie: everything below this line in this section is selectively included from the git-config(1) documentation. The content is literally the same as what's found there — same words, same energy:

worktree.guessRemote

If no branch is specified and neither -b nor -B nor --detach is used, then git worktree add defaults to creating a new branch from HEAD.

But if worktree.guessRemote is set to true, worktree add goes snooping for a remote-tracking branch whose name uniquely matches the new branch name. Found one? It gets checked out and set as "upstream" for the new branch. 🎀 Found multiple matches? The command fails, sorry babe. Found none at all? It falls back to creating a new branch from the current HEAD, business as usual.

worktree.useRelativePaths

Link worktrees using relative paths (when "true") or absolute paths (when "false"). This is particularly useful for setups where the repository and worktrees may be moved between different locations or environments. Defaults to "false".

⚠️ important: setting worktree.useRelativePaths to "true" implies enabling the extensions.relativeWorktrees config (see git-config(1)), which makes it incompatible with older versions of Git. so like, know what you're doing before you flip this switch 🙈

💀 BUGS 💀

ngl, multiple checkout in general is still experimental, and the support for submodules is incomplete. It is NOT recommended to make multiple checkouts of a superproject. That's a capital-N-O-T. Don't come for me, I'm just the messenger. 🫶

👑 GIT 👑

Part of the git(1) suite. you know, the whole crew. ⭐

and that's the whole page, bestie! this manual page was serving Git 2.56.0 realness, dated 2026-09-27 — GIT-WORKTREE(1), signing off. mwah 💖

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